Don’t Get Out The Vote! Can Apathy Be Patriotic?
By Christine Crosby
Who’s got the power? We’ve got the power! Two of us grandparents are running for President and the other 70 million make up the most powerful voting block. (see report at bottom of blog). There’s a lot of us and we vote.
Why? I think most of us are inspired to leave a better world for our grandkids, even if we don’t agree on what that is.
About a third of our generation still doesn’t vote, and way over half of young people don’t make it to the polls. That’s a problem, right?
Possibly, but maybe it’s not the problem we should be concerned with. If the non-voters are also uninformed, do we want them voting?… pulling the lever for the latest shiny object to catch their eye?
What (dis)information doesn’t come from Facebook and Twitter, comes from the media, right? And the media’s first job is to entertain….to keep us watching, listening, reading. That’s how they get paid. We like going to the circus and the media puts one on.
But how do we get the ‘informed citizenry’ the Founding Fathers hoped for? Apparently, it takes effort to become informed…a willingness to seek out facts and challenge assumptions.
I have a suggestion…perhaps this would have pleased Alexander Hamilton; let’s decide to become truly informed or skip the voting part and just watch the horse race on TV, guilt-free.
If an uninformed decision is actually worse for the country than no decision, isn’t apathy the more patriotic choice? If your dart throw has a 50% chance of doing more harm than good, isn’t it better to stock up on popcorn and watch?
Put another way, history does not dwell on how many voters turned out for Washington, Lincoln or Roosevelt, but on how fortunate we are that enough did.
Yes…different, but what do you think? We can start a Don’t Get Out The Vote effort.
And for those on the ‘informed track’, we have an analysis of the Nine Biggest Issues Affecting Your Pocketbook in the upcoming presidential election by the non-partisan Kiplinger publication…what would be the actual effect on us if either candidate’s policies were realized.
I’d love to hear what you think. Comment below, please. And click here to check out, who votes, and who doesn’t.
Christine
I try to be an informed voter but it can be very difficult. In local elections we often just hear the name of a candidate and have no knowledge of what they stand for. We see a picture of a lovely family in a beautiful setting all decked out in their “Sunday” best and based on that mailing are to decide if the candidate is qualified to be a Judge, a Councilman, a Senator or whatever.
Propositions are even worse as they are written to confuse. So often a “yes” answers means “no” or Visa versa.
Add in the fact that information presented does not have to be factual it is amazing we get anything done at all.
Yes, voting is a right and an important responsibility but it is not always easy to determine who or what to support with your vote. As I stated in the beginning, I try to always cast an educated vote but there have been times when I have chosen not to cast my vote for a candidate or an issue because I honestly had no way to determine what I was voting for. This is a very important election. Please verify information before you vote. Don’t be a follower without knowing who you are following.
I have faith in our system. It is better than so many countries although it has its flaws too. Please verify and vote in November.
Good points. Two solutions that work for us:
We are fortunate to have a newspaper (remember them?) which has won multiple Pulitzers, that I trust to dig into local candidates and make good recommendations – the Tampa Bay Times. Since I usually agree with their picks for the candidates I do know, I have a good level of trust for the ones I don’t, so I go right down their recommendations. Not perfect but I think it’s much better than no vote or a wrong one.
On the amendments, you can check on the websites of the interested parties….the ones you would agree with, and see what they are recommending. We have confusing choices coming up in Florida on solar power, and the pro-solar folks (I’m in that group) are making clear recommendations (Yes in August, No in November).
Hope that helps!